The King's Arrow eBook

“I hab no doubt about de Lo’d bein’
my Shepa’d,” she commented, “an’
I guess He’ll not let me want. But He
hasn’t led me into green past’rs dis time.
I wonder if de Good Lo’d made dis place, anyway,”
and she gazed ruefully around. “It looks
to me as if de deb’l had a mighty big hand in
it, fo’ sich a mixed up contraption of a hole
I nebber set my two eyes on befo’. An’
to t’ink dat de Cun’l had to leab his nice
home in Ol’ Connec., an’ come to a jumpin’-off
place like dis. I hope de ever-lastin’
fire will be seben times hot when it gits dem skunks
dat stirred up ructions ’ginst good King George,
I sa’tinly do.”

A slight noise startled her, and turning her head,
she smiled as she saw a girl standing near her side.

“Land sakes! Missie Jean, how yo’
did scare me!” she exclaimed. “I
thought mebbe it was a bear or a tager comin’
out ob de woods, fo’ one nebber knows what to
’spect next in dis place.”

“I am sorry I frightened you, Mammy,”
the girl smilingly replied, “And it was too
bad that I interrupted you in your interesting talk
about ‘everlasting fire,’ ‘ructions,’
and ‘King George.’ You seem to be
in a fighting mood.”

“I is, Missie Jean, I is in a turrible fightin’
mood. I’d like jes at dis very minute
to hab my two hands on dem rascals dat turned on good
King George, an’ den druve us all out ob our
homes. I’d show dem a t’ing or two,
I sa’tinly would.”

“I don’t doubt it,” the girl replied,
as she stooped and helped herself to a waffle.
“If you could fight as well as you can cook
you would be a wonder.”

“I could cook on our stove in Ol’ Connec.,
Missie Jean, but it’s mighty hard work on dat,”
and she looked contemptuously at the rude fire-place.
“To t’ink that we should ebber come to
dis!”

“Why, I think it’s great, Mammy.”

“What’ not better’n Ol’ Connec.?”

“Oh, not at all. But this might be worse.
I miss our dear old home in Connecticut, and yet
I have often longed for a life such as this.
I am sure you will like it, too, Mammy, when you get
used to it.”

“I kin nebber git used to it, chile. I’se
been torn up by de roots from de ol’ home where
I was born an’ bred, an’ I kin nebber take
root agin, ’specially in sich a rocky hole as
dis.”

“But we’re not going to stay here, Mammy.
We are going up the river, and make a new home in
a beautiful place among the trees.”